Finding Your Way, Part One
by FluteHero14
Summary: Dawn's lost the Grand Festival, and has run out of hope. Can Paul help her find her way back to contests? Ikarishipping, of course! Partner fic, part two by D3sstorjo. Review!


**Hello People! This is the first part of a partner fic, did some collab with D3sstorjo,check out part two on her profile when it's out, hope you guys like it! :)**

**_"There comes a point where many people may seem lost in the woods. What separates the winners from the losers is whether or not you try and find a way out._"-Me!**

**Yo no soy due****ña de pokemon! :)**

* * *

**Dawn's POV:**

I shook hands with my best friend Kenny, fake smile plastered on my face as I watched him cheer in glee. He'd just won the Grand Festival. I walked out of the crowd, and into the changing rooms, grabbing my bag and walking out the door of the contest arena, Piplup too tired to be at my side. I wanted to feel proud for coming in second, I wanted to be happy for Kenny, but I couldn't. I'd worked too hard for this! I worked too hard and he just came over and took away everything I'd worked for! It looked like a storm was coming. Quite frankly, I didn't care. I made sure no one saw me then ran for it.

**No POV:**

It was getting darker. Not only because it was near sunset, but because the sky was filled with dark clouds. Dawn snorted inwardly at how the weather seemed to match how she was feeling. She was completely exhausted from the day. What did she get? 'Nothing.', she thought bitterly. She sat down by a small river as rain began slowly falling. What was the point anymore? She'd given it her best and still couldn't even win? She got a pokeball, and let out her Piplup once again.

"Pip, Piplup?" It asked in confusion.

Her eyes became watery. "Sorry, Piplup, I'm sorry I failed you today. Go find someone else who can win for you."

"Pip? Lup piplup?", It said in disbelief. It took cautious steps toward its owner.

Dawn only shoved it away, making it land painfully onto the trunk of a nearby tree. "I said go _away_! I don't want you here!"

Piplup's eyes filled with tears and it slowly backed away from its trainer, afraid of getting hurt again, but once it was far enough, it scurried away in a sort of limping run.

The skies turned black, and the rain began to drizzle, soaking the girl as she brooded by the water, not moving a muscle.

* * *

Paul sat under a tree, protecting himself from the rain. Something limped towards him. _Such a pathetic little-_ He noticed it looked really hurt. He identified it as a...Piplup? Not only that, but it looked like Dawn's Piplup! But it couldn't be...

As the pokemon came closer it seemed afraid of Paul. Maybe it _was_ Dawn's, it probably thought he was really mean. Truth be told, he gave all his pokemon breaks once in a while, and he couldn't just leave a pokemon hurt like that.

He raised his hand, summoning Piplup. "Come on, hey I won't bite."

It wobbled over. "Are you Dawn's Piplup?"

That touched a nerve. "Piiipluup!", It began crying hysterically, but nodded as well.

"Woah, woah! What happened?", he raised his arms in surrender.

It wiped its eyes, and picked up a stick off the ground. Piplup made a tiny stick figure in a dry patch of dirt, with long hair. He made a gesture to himself, then pretended to throw a pokeball. "That's...Dawn?" Piplup nodded. "Wait... wasn't the Grand Festival today?"

"Pip! Pip!", Piplup nodded frantically. Paul caught on. "So this has something to do with that? What happened?" Piplup made another stick figure, a boy, and put DD next to it. "Who calls troublesome..._Kenny_?" "Pip!" "Kenny won?" Piplup nodded. "What place did Dawn get?" Piplup put up both its flippers.

That made sense. She'd almost won, and the person she lost to just _had_ to be her best friend. Bummer. He looked back at the Piplup.

"So, what else happened?"

Piplup made yet another stick person, with slightly longer hair than Kenny. It pointed to Paul, then jumped at his bag.

"Hey, what are you-"

It picked up a pokeball and passed it to him with pleading eyes.

"What do you want me to do, capture you? Because I can't unless-" His eyes widened."Dawn didn't _release_ you, did she?"

It nodded. Paul sighed. "Okay, but...I can't keep you. You're Dawn's Piplup. I'm going to convince her to take you back when I find her."

Piplup's eyes filled with tears of joy. It jumped up and down, then hugged Paul's leg. "Pip! Piplup!"

He patted Piplup on the head, but suddenly remembered something as Piplup winced from his touch.

"Hey, what happened to you, Piplup?"

Piplup pointed to the Dawn drawing, and shoved Paul's leg, making him slip on the wet ground and fall.

"Ow, god Piplup, you didn't have to show me like _that_. Here." He got the pokeball off the floor and pressed it to Piplup. It blinked once...twice...

Done. Piplup got out of his pokeball and Paul took it to the pokemon center.

"Now...where could Dawn-?"

Piplup pointed the way through, dragging Paul's hand along as it made its way to a river bank. Paul heard a sniffle. There was Dawn, sitting on a rock, crying. Paul knew exactly what he was going to do. How he was going to do it? No idea.


End file.
